Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLUSH, v.i. [D. bloozen; Sw. blyas, to blush; Dan. blusser, to blaze or glisten; blussel, blushing; D. blos, a blush; Sw. bloss; Dan. blus, a torch; Dan. blues ved, to blush or be ashamed; Ir. loise, loisi, flame. It implies a throwing out, or spreading. Flash may be from the same root. See Blaze.]

1. To redden in the cheeks or face; to be suddenly suffused with a red color in the cheeks or face, from a sense of guilt, shame, confusion, modesty, diffidence or surprise; followed by at or for, before the cause of blushing; as, blush at your vices; blush for your degraded country. In the presence of the shameless and unblushing, the young offender is ashamed to blush. – Buckminster.
2. To bear a blooming red color, or any soft bright color; as, the blushing rose. He bears his blushing honors thick upon him. – Shak. Shakspeare has used this word in a transitive sense, to make red, and it may be allowable in poetry.